INTERVIEW: Benjamin Fortna on the contentious life and legacy of Eşref Kuşçubaşı

The life of Eşref Kuşçubaşı is of enduring controversy. A secret service operative who worked from the Balkans to North Africa to Arabia in the final years of the Ottoman Empire, he turned his back on the resistance forces of Mustafa Kemal during the War of Independence and ended up in exile for almost 30 years.

University of Arizona Professor of History Benjamin Fortna's new biography, "The Circassian: A Life of Eşref Bey, Late Ottoman Insurgent and Special Agent," is the most detailed account of Eşref's life, based on exclusive access to previously unexamined papers. The book (reviewed in HDN here) paints a picture of a contentious life on the frontline of history as the Ottoman Empire collapsed and the Republic of Turkey emerged.

Fortna spoke to the Hürriyet Daily News about his book and his research on Eşref's life. 

Eşref Kuşçubaşı is still a controversial name in Turkey. Why did you want to investigate his life at this point in time? What stirred your interest?

It was really opportunistic. It was the chance to have access to his papers. It wasn't that I had been working on Eşref for a long time; it was more that I realized someone I'd known for a long time was actually one of Eşref's direct descendants. The family had some papers and asked if I might be interested.

He had an extraordinarily colorful life and did an incredible amount of traveling and working in different places. 

One of the bigger issues that comes to the fore is the way that technology was transforming life in the empire, particularly for the state and those who were working in the state service. The range of movement that Eşref's life encompassed was extraordinary. It would have been much less...